Our Jubilate Anniversary Weekend

Thanks to everyone who made it down to our fun filled Anniversary weekend, (Dec 4th-6th). We had tons of fun visiting with our customers and helping people pick out yarn for their new projects. Lot of fun was had "trimming the tree" with Isla on Saturday making felted ornaments. And then on Sunday, Brookelynn was here doing her "felted playground." Kate Nagle was here too, taking fabulous winter portraits. On saturday we had our fun yarn tasting class where everyone's favorites yarns' were Blue Sky Alpaca's Alpaca Silk and Sport Weight.

And here are some cute little needle felted animals made by the Gast family!

Anniversary Event!

Cast Away is one year old! We are having an anniversary event December 4th - 6th. We will be having a grand time of it with drawings, free felting workshops, sock knitting technique demos including:

Free Demos of ravelry.com & knitfinder.com.

Saturday night will include a yarn tasting event!

On Sunday Kate Nagle will be here from 12-4 pm so come by and let her take some winterific holiday

photos.

And of course we will have yarns on sale too!

Click on the flyer to the left for all details, times & specifics.

New Yarns!!!

We just got in a great new yarn by Tahki Yarns, called Truffles! This is devilishly sumptuous, it's just like candy for the hands. The fiber content is 32% cotton, 30% Viscose, 20% Angora, and 18% Nylon. It would be a great to wear in Fall here in Sonoma County, because with the 32% cotton, you'll never get too hot wearing it. Personally, I think it would be perfect for a cool weather version of the Caitlin Shrug (see class schedule). There is 102 yards per skein and we have it in six great colors (the black is an actual pure black).

We also received in Schaefer Yarn's Nichole yarn in five multi-color ways and three solid colored ways. This is a great sock yarn with 405 yards , with a fiber content of 80% extra-fine superwash merino wool and 20% nylon. In addition we've recently put on our shevles Cascade's Pastaza, a 50/50 llama and wool blend, that's perfect for winter. Plus, we have a whole bunch of new colors of Mission Falls 1824 Cotton.

Hope everyone is enjoying the great change in weather we are having. I know here at Cast Away we are, and it's causing our fingers to start itching for more knitting!

Lambtown!

This past Saturday Lambtown festival took place in Dixon. It was tons of fun and full of loads of things to see and touch! Much time was spent with the Alpacas; they have such big, round soulful eyes, almost twice the size of most sheep's eyes. They are a bit on the timid side towards strangers, but very loving with their handlers. While I was talking with one owner about one of his young rowdy alpacas, one of his geldings kept rubbing his head against the man's chest, it was very sweet. They also emit these strange mewing sounds, which I was quite surprised to hear.

Later in the day, I watched the fleece and sheep judging shows, which were both judge by Martin Dally, a very well-known judge. He was a wealth of information! At times it was just too much information to take in.

Finally there was the market building with many more booths than I had anticipated. Several booths were small scale artisans, who dye their own roving and yarn. There was a really great array of beautiful selections. I couldn't stop myself from getting a little. I also got to try out a spinning wheel for the first time. I was quite taken with it. And speaking of spinning, in winter we will start carrying spinning supplies in the shop!

It was also fun running into a few of our customers, enjoying the day!

Sale Today!

20% off all Cascade yarns today! Cascade is a big company so there are 15+ yarns on sale today. Open late until 8:30 for our Sit & Knit

Regatta Fun!

Hope everyone made it down to Railroad square yesterday for the Handcar Regatta and had a rollicking good time, I know we did! It was terrific seeing everyone lending their hand to knit a sail for our boat. Everyone was so full of spirit and wearing such amazing costumes. The handcars were spectacular and brimming with ingenuity.

Thank you to every one who stopped by the Cast Away booth and helped with the sail!

Check out more pictures of the event at the flickr Handcar Regatta 2009.

Photo Credits:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwen/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Autumn Musings

Autumn is starting to creep it's nose up and here at Cast Away we are looking forward to the sweater-wearing Fall months. It's time for thinking of new autumn sweaters to knit, for planning your holiday knitted gifts, and for dressing in knitted layers. In fact, layered knits were once again seen all over the runways this season, and so we may soon start seeing it's influence upon our knitting. Missoni's Ready-to-Wear showed layers of soft camels, pinks, creams and grayed blues. One of their key pieces were the super long and thick cowls. This would be a great piece to make this Fall out of Misti Alpaca's Chunky or Malabrigo's worsted yarn. Or maybe try Twinkle's Soft Chunky for a thick short cowl, like what appeared on the Rodarte runway.

Speaking of yarns, our new Fall yarns are beginning to arrive in. We are now carrying MiraSol Yarn, and just received lots of amazing colors in both Miski and Sulka!Miski is a medium worsted weight and is 100% Baby Llama and would work great for a cute slouchy beret or cosy cabled scarf. And Sulka is a thick worsted/chunky weight yarn and is 60% Merino Wool, 20% Alpaca and 20% Silk! Sulka would look great in a textured cardigan, great for layering or it would work well for fair isle mittens.

Another silk and wool blend we've received is Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool in eight colors. This is a really beautiful light-weight DK yarn, that looks fabulous knitted in a lace stitch. The fiber content is 45% Wool, 35% Silk and 20% Nylon and knits at 5 1/2 stitche per inch with 192 yards per skein. We've also received two new yarns from Jade Sapphire. We now carry their 6-ply Cashmere and their Sapphire Sock, which has enough yardage for one pair of sox.

We've also gotton in two new yarns from Filature Di Crosa, Gioiello and Pom Pom. Plus more colors in Superior Cashmere and even more new colors in Mochi Plus by Crystal Palace.

On another note, we were sent an email about submissions for a "Pattern-A-Day" Calender. Check out: http://www.knittingpatternaday.com for information.

Sheep Light Show

Have you ever wondered what life is like for shepherds? Well, sometimes all that quiet time alone watching your flock of sheep gets to you and you have to create your own fun! :) In March a group of Welsh shepherds brought together several flocks, a video camera, and LED lights and made a unique visual experience. Check out the youtube video of the Welsh shepherd’s amazing light show!

Cast Away in YMN

Cast Away was featured in this months issue of YMN: Yarn Market News! YMN is a trade magazine for the yarn industry. Justine shared with Daryl Browner how she came up with the store's name and about a few sleepless nights spent choosing the store's location. Plus, there is a super cute photo of Olive!

Manos manos manos...

We have a boat load (literally) of great new colors in Manos' Wool Classica and Silk Blend to delight all! :)

In the Wool Classica we recieved eight solid colors and seven multi colored skeins with names like Goldenrod, Mulled Wine and Cornucopia. And in the Silk Blend we have nine solid colors and three multi colored skeins with names such as Coffee, Violets and Woodland.

Both Silk Blend and Wool Classica are hand spun and kettle dyed. While Classica is a merino and corriedale wool blend, the Silk Blend is a blend of 30% silk and ultrafine merino.

Be Sweet Trunk Show!

Be Sweet's Nadine Curtis will be here at Cast Away on Thursday, July 23, 5:00-7:00 (Free)

She will be bringing some amazing Be Sweet Products- and all Be Sweet will be 20% off!

* Thursday is also our Sit & Knit night so we will be here knitting until 8:30!

Go to the Be Sweet website to see some of the beautiful products Nadine will be bringing. We will have wine and snacks for you too, so come on out to play!

A bit about Be Sweet:

Be Sweet works with several job creation programs in South Africa by giving artisans the confidence and the means to support themselves and their families in an otherwise economically depressed region.

Be Sweet also donates a portion of its profits to the Shaw Park School, a primary and secondary school in the Eastern Cape where many of the participants' children attend.

Lynmar Winery will be donating wines for the event!

Pithy Knitting

Pithy; pithier, pithiest

adjective

Precisely meaningful; forceful and brief; Concise and full of meaning; Tersely cogent; Of, like, or abounding in pith

Pithy Knitting is our Friday night class- all summer every Friday night we will have a short class. The projects range from baby booties to silk purses. It's drop-in, so just pop on in on any Friday night and make something great! $15 + supplies (please purchase your supplies here:) 5:30-7:30

World Wide Knit in Public Day (KIP)! This is an event that happens on the second Saturday in June each year all over the world! Santa Rosa's  KIP is Saturday June 13 in Historic Railroad Square at Depot Park from 11-6. The idea behind KIP is to promote the needle arts as well as to get out there and meet new people, and get in some serious knitting time of course! Cast Away will be there promoting knitting and crochet and will have a couple of helpers on hand too for those of you who get stuck or newbies who wander by and want to join in. Bring a chair or a blanket to sit on and bring some snacks too- or get lunch at one of Railroad Square's great lunch places! Call us if you have any questions at 707-546-YARN (9276). To read more about KIP go to: 

http://www.wwkipday.com/

Spring Break Sale!

That's right, Cast Away's first big sale ever! All week through Saturday (April 13-18) everything is 20% off! Our prices are already really reasonable so this is a big sale. We can't put class fees or consigned items on sale, but everything else goes! Yarn! Books! Knitting Bags! Needles! We're making room for some of the exciting new lines coming in, see you this week!

Portrait Day at Cast Away!!

I'm so excited to announce a Portrait Day for you and your family this Spring at Cast Away!  

(And just in time for Mother's Day & Father's Day too)

These discounted mini sessions are only $40, and include 20 minutes of shooting time, 5x7" print credit, online proofing, and a day-of 10% in-store credit to Cast Away, Santa Rosa's new yarn store in Railroad Square.  Sessions are open to couples, families, kids, individuals, pets, babies, and crafters!  Choose from various backgrounds and crafting/knitting props if you want them.  

To book your session, contact Jessamyn at: j@jessamynharris.com, or call 707-235-8953.  Sessions are available on the half hour and hour on Saturday April 25th, from 10am-6pm, and must be booked in advance to hold your preferred time.  Cast Away's location is 111 4th Street, Santa Rosa, California.

More information is available on Jessamyn's blog at www.jessamynharris.blogspot.com 

"Knitted Neck Gator"

Feel like knitting for a good cause? Why not knit up a neck warmer for the troops. We just got the free patterns in for the Knitted Neck Gators that will be given as Christmas gifts to the A-Co 1/17th Infantry. The organizer's goal is to send off 1 gator for each solider, thats 155 gators!

The preferred choice for yarn is Cascade's 220 Superwash, which will knit up two Gators. We have free patterns and plenty of the recommended color here at Castaway!

Check out the group's page on Ravelry.

See The Shop!

100% Organic Cotton

We just got a new yarn in -it is 100% Organic Cotton and has the EKO Sustainable Textile international inspection symbol on it. This is really great because it ensures a high standard for sustainably, produced fiber. By purchasing this yarn, you are helping to support the production of organic yarn that comes from regularly inspected organic farms, and fiber processing that's done with a very low impact upon the environment. All very good!

This yarn just knits up like a dream and is super, super soft. It just floats right off of bamboo needles. The drape is nice and light. Look for a shrug class coming soon...

Needle Felting Supplies!

We just got in some new needle felting supplies- eyes and noses for those cute little animals you're making!

Isla Corbett Felted Items

We are very excited to let everyone know that we just got in handmade felted items by local designer Isla Corbett! We are selling her adorable little flowered hair pins, eye-glass cases, and hand clutches. If you haven't heard of her check her out at islacorbett.com.

We've got this great new yarn in. by Cascade, called Indulgence. It knits up great and is super soft due to it being an angora and baby alpaca blend. We have it in six great colors, like this sample in gold.

More Classes!

We've got lots of classes coming up- check out the website for photos and details!

Beginning Socks, Basic Hat, "Neck Scarf", Beginning Lace Knitting (make a beautiful scarf with a worsted weight!), Beginning Cable (make a great scarf with big chunky cables), felted slippers, Blue Sky Kitty Hat, and don't forget about Kid's Knitting every Tuesday.